A TORY MP who pledged to vote against increases in tuition fees will not confirm if he will vote against Government plans to treble university fees.

Lee Scott, Ilford North MP, faces a difficult decision when MPs are asked to vote on Government plans to treble tuition fess.

Mr Scott was pictured last year posing with former National Union of Students president Wes Streeting while holding a placard he had signed which said he would vote against any increase in the next parliament.

Mr Streeting, now a Redbridge Labour councillor for Chadwell Ward, is urging Mr Scott not to go back on his pledge.

He said: “I was grateful to Lee Scott for being one of the few Conservative candidates to sign the pledge against higher tuition fees and now I – as well as future generations of students in Redbridge – expect him to honour that solemn promise.

"Proposals to treble student fees would see students leaving university with eye-watering debts in excess of £40,000 with some poorer students priced out of universities charging the highest fees altogether.

“I am calling on Lee Scott to confirm that he will put young people in his constituency first by voting against higher fees.

"Anything else would be a betrayal of the young people of Redbridge."

Mr Scott, a Conservative MP, told the Guardian: "I am waiting to see exactly what is put forward but I do have concerns over tuition fees.

"I'm not going to give an answer as to what I might do, I will wait to see exactly what comes forward.

"I genuinely don't have a clue of the details of when we will be asked to vote on it but I have learnt over my career that when it comes to it the proposal could have changed a lot."

Yesterday, David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science, told the House of Commons the Government intends to increase fees to £6,000 per year, with an upper tier of £9,000.

He said: "Our student support system is one of the most generous in the world. We will make it more progressive.

"Lower-income students, while studying, will get improved help with their living costs.

"It will be up to each university or college to decide what it charges, including the amounts for different courses.

"We need to act quickly so that prospective students know where they stand. We intend to implement these changes for the 2012-13 academic year."

He said a debate on the proposals is likely to take place in the House of Commons and the Lords before Christmas before a vote is taken.

Mr Streeting got Mr Scott to sign the pledge on November 11, 2009.

The pledge reads: “I will vote against any increase in fees in the next Parliament and to press the Government to introduce a fairer funding system.”

Labour MPs John Cryer, who represents Leyton and Wanstead, and Mike Gapes, Ilford South, both signed the pledge last year and have said they will honour their commitment.